Entering the bridge with Admiral Hanson in tow, Captain th'Zorati headed across to his command chair where Commander Neprem was waiting for them. He'd filled the Admiral in on everything; the Benzite Consortium agent who had been their target, fleeing for the wormhole and his potential links to the Alpha Quadrant terrorist cell known as the Order of Twelve.

"Report Commander," the Andorian requested as he slipped into the command chair and gestured for the Admiral to make use of the vacant seat to his left.

"We're nearing the wormhole now, sir," Tara said as she slipped back into the chair to Thalek's right. "We've detected another ship on approach, it matches the general description that the agent has been known to use. I've set a pursuit course to try to intercept him before he can reach the wormhole, but he has quite the lead on us. I've continued our attempts to contact Deep Space 9, but communications with the array are still being jammed."

Thalek nodded in thanks to the Commander for her report. "Lieutenant Yole," the Captain called out towards the Operations Chief, "See what you can do to cut through the interference," the Captain ordered before tapping a button on the arm of his chair. "=/\=Bridge to Engineering," he spoke clearly.

"=/\=Engineering here," came the airy, ever-bright voice of the Nogura's resident chief engineer.

"=/\=I know we are at maximum warp Lieutenant but I need more," the Andorian requested over the comm. He knew it was a tall order, but they had to push the ship to the extreme if they had any hope of intercepting the Consortium Agent.

A brief pause followed. "=/\=Alright Captain," Lieutenant zh'Khessi replied, her cheerfulness dimmed into resolve. "=/\=We can get ya warp 9.97 'till we hit the wormhole, but we'll really have to slow down after that. Seems a bit rude to push the Nogura so hard on a first date, but she'll do it for ya."

There was something about the Andorian's response that made Tara smile, but she quickly schooled her expression into one of seriousness and focus. "We'll have to drop out of warp to pass through the wormhole, but we might be able to catch up to Monhok inside the wormhole if we're willing to risk full impulse; a ship of that size would have to go slower to avoid damage, but the Nogura can take more of a beating," Tara suggested.

“=/\=Can we use a tractor beam in the the wormhole, Lieutenant?” the Captain queried over the comm after nodding at the Conn Officer.

"=/\=Yeah, sure," the chief engineer replied promptly. "The tractor emitter will work fine in there. But...really, Cap, I don't know what'll happen if our tractor beam touches a verteron filament in there. The wormhole itself will probably be fine, but I don't know about us."

The tuborlift doors slid apart and Jamie stepped onto the bridge followed by Ensign Ja'Qull. Jamie responsed to Thalek and Tara's glances of curiosity with a smile. He and the Klingon Ensign quickly traversed that aft of the bridge, passing behind the Captain and XO's positions. As the pair neared the tactical station, Ja'Qull took a seat at the empty mission operations station, where he will monitor Jamie's progress. As Jamie neared the tactical station, Lieutenant Th'iqiarrroq stood up, reaching out his hand to shake Jamie's. Jamie shook Th'iqiarroq's hand and smiled before the Lieutenant departed. Jamie sat down at the station and took his first look at the panel in front of him.

Everything was where he remembered from his cadet cruise and holodeck training. He reviewed the shield, weapons, and sensor controls, noting that each were in the green. If and when shields and weapons were needed, he would be able bring shields online and ready phasers and torpedoes very quickly. He looked over his shoulder and nodded, notifying Ensign Ja'Qull that he was good to go for the time being.

“Approaching the wormhole now Captain,” Gates spoke from the Ops station. “Monhok’s vessel has already entered the aperture,” the Helmsman revealed as she glanced back at the Andorian briefly.

“Slow to impulse power,” Thalek ordered sternly, “take us in, best possible speed.” Was it worth risking weapons fire or a tractor beam in the wormhole? No, not in this case. It wasn’t worth the risk to his ship, his crew or the wormhole aliens that the Bajoran strategist so believed in.

The Andorian glanced briefly at the Admiral beside him and his silence spoke volumes. He so far clearly agreed with the Captain’s actions.

“Slowing to impulse... ten seconds until wormhole threshold...” the Conn officer spoke clearly and concisely as she tapped away at her console.

On the screen, the wormhole burst to life and the mighty Sovereign class starship was soon enveloped, travelling through the verteron particles and the particle streams. It wouldn’t be long until she burst out the other side and could give chase.

"All hands, brace for wormhole transit," Tara called out over the ship wide comms just before the ship was enveloped; transit through the wormhole was usually quite smooth, but they were attempting this at full impulse, which had the potential to be quite a rough ride. But the wormhole was such a beautiful sight, both the dramatic opening and the brilliant blue corridor they now traversed, and it took Tara's breath away, even after her own experiences and those of her past lives.

"We'll reach the exit aperture in three minutes..." Gates informed from the Conn.

"We're closing but they still have a lead." Yole reported from Ops, "They'll emerge on the alpha side ninety seconds ahead of us."

"Mister Franklin, be ready to engage the tractor beam on Monhok's ship as soon as we exit the wormhole," Tara ordered, watching the other ship on the main view screen, just a tiny dot ahead of them.

"Aye, Ma'am," Jamie replied without looking up from the counsel in front of him. "Tractor beam at the ready."

The next minute or so was excruciating as the crew watched helplessly as their target vessel exited the wormhole ahead of them and no doubt made the jump to warp.

"Dammit," Tara blurted out under her breath, then blushed when she realized what she'd said. "Ahem, I mean... Track their warp trail, let's see if we can discern their heading. Engineering, what's our limit on warp travel since we pushed the warp core so hard?"

The chirpy Andorian sounded out of breath over the comm as she replied. "=/\=Warp 9.9 for six hours, then I'll need to cool her off a bit and let the crystals stabilise. That wormhole screwed our nacelles somethin' fierce."

Thalek nodded at the helm officer and authorised the use of warp 9.9 in order to pursue the criminal. He just hoped they could catch him in time...